iPad to Support USB Audio Interfaces via Camera Connection Kit?

[upstateguy]

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High Resolution Technologies debuts the iStreamer
 
its ipod, ipad, iphone certified and takes digital out and converts it into analog.
 
http://www.headfonia.com/hrt-istreamer-released/
 
price is 200$ which I think is a very decent price

Wondering what dac chip it's using and how is it powered?

 

[moodyrn]

Quote:

But it's portable. It requires a power supply that's connected to an outlet. If it was portable it would be a great product for me.

I meant to say it's "not" portable. From what I read about it, it does require and outlet and external power supply.

 

[upstateguy]

Just got my camera attachment today, tried it tonight.  I have not upgraded from 3.2.2 because I wanted to try my Pico dac.
 
Here are some initial impressions.  (Battery was at 40% when I started.)  Pico connected right away.  I patched it into my M^3 and plugged in my T-1s.  My main interest is high bit rate internet radio so I had a listen to AVRO classical at 320 and AVRO Baroque at 256.  They were OK.  Then I tried Radio Caroline Gold, Radio Monique Gold, and ValanFM Europe Zen, all at 320. Again, they were OK.  I also tried Radio Paradise and Psychomed jazz both at 192.  They all played well but I only used the Pico for a short time because I noticed that the battery level was going down fairly quickly despite the fact that the Pico only draws 100mA. (will have to check this again)
 
I was able to use the shoutcast app as well as access stations through Safari.  When I listened through Safari, I found I was able to open another page and continue browsing with the music still playing from the minimize site.  
 
I put the ipad on charge while I looked for some patch cords.  By the time  I plugged in a Zu patch cord and tried the same stations from the headphone out to the M^3, the charge was up to 80%. The headphone out had Less volume (at 100%), but; not noticeably less quality....
 
Next I tried my Blue Circle Thingee transport which draws 500mA. It connected immediately. I directed the output to my NorthStar MK2 and into a GS-1.  Listening to ValenFM Europe Zen at 320 as I type this.  It's OK, but not as good as from my laptop, even though it plays louder.  The other thing is that even though the Thingee reads 500mA from my laptop device manager, it seems to be drawing much less batter power than the Pico dac did.  Where I could watch the battery numbers decrease with the Pico, it has remained unchanged with the Thingee transport for the balance of this post.  This actually makes some sense since the Pico is a transport and a dac and the Thingee is just a transport..... or perhaps the charge had something to do with it... I don't know.
 
It's curious that digital out is not the same between the ipad and my laptop's foobar.  Quality-wise, it doesn't seem to matter if I use the shoutcast app or the web site player. 
 
It will take some more listening to verify if my initial impressions are accurate, but from what I'm hearing tonight, the ipad is certainly not going to be a replacement for "computer audio", as far as streaming goes anyway.
 
And for what it's worth, the ipad > Pico > GS-1 is not as preferable as the ipad > Thingee > NorthStar > GS-1, and neither of them are as good as the laptop I'm comparing them to.
 
I don't have a line out cable so that will be the next thing to get and from what I am hearing tonight, the best solution for ipad audio might very well be the line out dock, if it offers an improvement over the headphone out.
 
USG

 

[sling5s]

Which Dacs work with the camera connect kit off the ipad?  Tried ibasso d1 and it doesn't work.  It says, "usb device requires too much power".
Is it the ibasso or the ipad?  Can anyone help?  If this is already mentioned, sorry.
 
Edit: Sorry got it.  Will any power hub work?  

 

[moodyrn]

I would be careful about that one. That particular kit isn't from apple and has actually been around for a while. A lot of users have reported major problems with it. A lot have even reported it doesn't work at all. The above poster just joined today, and it's a good chance he's the seller of this item.

 

[moodyrn]

Disreguard the above post as the both the person and post I was referring to has been removed.

 

 

[kbuzz]

a
 
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Really enjoying my TTVJ Slim with the Ipad usb out. 

This is a cross post but has anyone tried this combo lately?  I cant seem to get the ttvj slim dac to get going with the ipad camera connection kit.  Ive pm gopack but await a response.....

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

a
 

This is a cross post but has anyone tried this combo lately?  I cant seem to get the ttvj slim dac to get going with the ipad camera connection kit.  Ive pm gopack but await a response.....

With iOS 4.0 and higher the iPad needs a powered hub for many of the DACs that used to work, or you can fool it by using a Dr. Botts T3 hub that fools the iPad into thinking it's powered.
 

 

[Noumenon]

Would the Wadia 171i be obsolete given the camera connection kit (with a powered DAC), or would the Wadia offer better quality somehow?

 

[grawk]

The ipad doesn't really fit in the wadia dock without an extension cable, but I don't see any particular benefit to the wadia dock over the apple hdmi cable or camera kit with a good enough usb spdif adapter. As to whether it's better than using a usb port on a given dac that has both spdif and usb inputs, that depends greatly on the usb implementations. Most dacs have USB as an afterthought, and sound terrible compared to other input options.

 

[Noumenon]

The Wadia 171i still sells for $600 vrs $30 for the camera kit, so it's hard to believe the camera kit equates to the Wadia,... but they both by-pass the iPad DAC/AMP,....

 

[Skylab]

The Camera Kit only outputs USB.  The Wadia will output Coax, Toslink, and AES/EBU.
 
Still, the new Wadia is overpriced IMO.  The Cambridge Audio D100 does all that, has a nicer form factor, a better remote, and costs $300.

 

[grawk]

Now that you can use airtunes, just get an appletv to get digital audio out from an ipod touch/iphone/ipad.

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

The Wadia 171i still sells for $600 vrs $30 for the camera kit, so it's hard to believe the camera kit equates to the Wadia,... but they both by-pass the iPad DAC/AMP,....

 
What grawk is saying is CCK + something like a HiFace, Halide Bridge, or Sonicweld Diverter (to cover various price points) = 171i.

 

[Noumenon]

Quote:

 
Quote:

The Wadia 171i still sells for $600 vrs $30 for the camera kit, so it's hard to believe the camera kit equates to the Wadia,... but they both by-pass the iPad DAC/AMP,....

 
What grawk is saying is CCK + something like a HiFace, Halide Bridge, or Sonicweld Diverter (to cover various price points) = 171i.

 
That makes senses,.. thanks for the informative responses.